You are not required to pay a fee to receive your unclaimed funds

The Ohio Department of Commerce is warning Ohioans about a scam instructing you to pay to get your unclaimed funds.

How the scheme works: Unclaimed Money Discovery contacts a claimant via email stating that a recovery agent has been assigned to help retrieve their unclaimed funds. In return, they ask claimants to pay $29.95 for the services. Once the fee is paid, they send a claim form from www.missingmoney.com, a legitimate website to search for unclaimed funds, to finish the process.

Under Ohio Revised Code 169.16(A), “No person, on behalf of any other person, shall engage in any activity for the purpose of locating, delivering, recovering, or assisting in the recovery of unclaimed funds or contents of a safe deposit box, and receive a fee, compensation, commission, or other remuneration for such activity, without first having obtained a certificate of registration from the director of commerce.”

Unclaimed Money Discovery is not registered with the Department of Commerce and is therefore not authorized to engage in such activity. Superintendent Yaw Obeng strongly encourages Ohioans to work directly with the Division of Unclaimed Funds.

“It is unfortunate that these bad actors are trying to make Ohioans pay for what is rightfully theirs,” Superintendent Obeng said. “This is simply an attempt to trick the recipient into paying for an unnecessary service.”

The proper method for checking your name for unclaimed funds is to visit the Division of Unclaimed Funds website at www.com.ohio.gov/unfd. Individuals without Internet access can write to the division and provide the full name(s) to be searched, along with the counties in which the person(s) might have resided. The division’s address is 77 South High Street, 20th Floor, Columbus, OH, 43215. Anyone with questions regarding the state of Ohio unclaimed funds program can call the division toll free at 1-877-644-6823 (OHIO-UCF).

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Staff report